Nobody Like You
by Bundibird
Summary: Oneshot for 6x14. Ben meets Doctor Matt. And Doctor Matt is no Dean Winchester. To be fair though – the guy never even stood a chance at measuring up.


_AN: We just got 6x14 and 6x15 in Australia (I know. Yay Aussie TV, right?). I LOVED 6x14. Ben, buddy, I adore you. "You know you're walking out on your family, right?" Oh, Dean so needed to hear that. That's one seriously awesome kid. I went and watched 3x02 again afterwards just cause I wanted more Ben-Dean interaction. Damn I love that pair. _

_A Note On Spelling: Yes, even though I am Australian, I am spelling Mum with an o. Because Lisa's an American mother and therefore she's a Mom, not a Mum. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. And I've not yet seen past 6x15 (so no spoilers, please!), and thus I don't know if Doctor Matt ever actually makes an appearance or not, so I guess I own the description and personality that I've written him with, but not the concept of his character._

_**...**_

_**Nobody Like You**_

_**...**_

Lisa's smiling as she hurries past Ben – who's sitting slouched unenthusiastically at the breakfast bar – to answer the door, make up and hair done already but not yet in the dress she's picked out for the evening.

"Matt," Ben hears her say warmly from down the hall. "How are you? Come in – I'm not quite ready yet. And I'd like you to meet someone."

Ben hears Matt – _Doctor_ Matt – respond in a quiet, cheerful voice as he comes inside and Lisa shuts the door behind him, and his scowl darkens a little and he doesn't look up as the footsteps come closer.

"Ben?" Lisa says, re-entering the kitchen with Doctor Matt in tow. "Ben – this is Matt. Matt, this is my son Ben."

Ben finally looks up from the patterns he's been doodling on the bench-top with his finger, a decidedly unwelcoming expression on his face as he takes his first look at Doctor Matt, who's standing in the doorway looking way too comfortable for Ben's liking.

The guy's a bit of a pretty boy, but aside from that is nothing special to look at. His blonde hair is shaggy looking and wavy, and he looks like some sort of surfer dude wearing a suit.

Not exactly what Ben was expecting, and his dislike of him is instantaneous.

"Hi Ben," he says in this smooth, casual voice that only serves to make Ben like him even less. "It's great to meet you – your mom's told me heaps about you."

Ben's eyes flicker over to Lisa for a moment, and she's watching him with this earnestly hopeful expression that says, _Please be nice._

"She hasn't told me much about you," Ben says casually, but with a hard edge to his voice, looking back to Matt.

He sees his mom deflate a little out of the corner of his eye as she realizes that he's going to make this as hard as he possibly can for Doctor Matt.

What he's just said isn't strictly true – Lisa's told Ben heaps about Doctor Matt. For a couple of weeks now it's been "Matt this, and Matt that, and Ben I know you'll get along really well with him – I can't wait for you to meet him."

Matt doesn't seem to mind Ben's slightly icy attitude. Seems totally unsurprised by it, actually, which irritates Ben a little more because he was kind of hoping to make the Doctor feel uncomfortable and awkward, but it doesn't seem to be working so far.

"Well, we've only been dating for a little while, so that's understandable," Doctor Matt says easily, and Ben _hates_ that he uses the phrase 'dating' so flippantly. His Mom isn't _dating _this guy. They've only been out twice. That's not dating.

"Well, I'm gonna go finish getting ready," Lisa says, turning to head out of the room and back upstairs. "I'll leave you two to chat a bit – get to know each other."

She says it with a strong look in Ben's direction, and he knows it's less of a suggestion and more of an order.

Still. Doesn't mean he has to make it easy for the guy.

Lisa disappears upstairs and Matt comes wandering over, glancing around as he goes.

"I really love the style your Mom's got going in the house," Doctor Matt says, gesturing around the kitchen and leaning on the bench opposite Ben. "It's really great – so open and bright."

There's silence for a moment while Ben sends him a look that clearly says, _Really? This is how you're going to go about this?_ and Matt catches it and sighs a little.

"Look, Ben," he says, leaning forwards with an earnest expression. "I know this is hard for you, ok? It's been just you and your Mom for so long, and it's gotta be hard when she starts seeing other people. But she deserves to be happy – I know you know that. So why don't you give me a chance here, ok?"

Ben's hard glare is mulish.

Doctor Matt sighs again.

"Ok – how about we start with the easy stuff, yeah?" he says, and Ben's got to grudgingly admire his cheerful persistence. "What kind of music do you like?"

The silence in the kitchen lasts for a full five seconds before Doctor Matt realises that Ben's not going to answer.

"Well, I love classical stuff, myself," he says, determinedly keeping the one-sided conversation going.

Ben scoffs quietly, rolling his eyes a little and looking away. Seriously – where did his Mom _find_ this dude?

"I know, I know," Doctor Matt says with a self-depreciating grin. "It's hardly the coolest type of music out there. But I've always loved it – a full orchestra in a great big hall playing Bach, or Beethoven, with all the layers and textures… It's one of the greatest sounds you'll ever hear."

Ben's eyebrows twitch in this expression that he totally learnt from Dean – the one that says, _Ok then, weirdo._

"Come on then, tell me yours," Doctor Matt says, smiling a little and ignoring Ben's disparaging expression. "You can't scoff at mine and not tell me yours."

Ben sends him a look which is a unique blend of irritation and anger and a lack of patience.

"Rock," he says shortly, relenting just a fraction. Just enough to let this guy know how incredibly far off he is with his ridiculous music preferences.

"Yeah?" Doctor Matt says, sounding way too pleased that he's finally gotten a response out of Ben. "Anyone specific? I like the stuff that Foo Fighters is putting out at the moment, actually – they've got some great tracks. And Fall Out Boy too. But...… judging by your expression, they're _not _on your list of favourites?"

Too damn right they're not.

"They're _Pop_ Rock," Ben says, his voice clearly disgusted. His face had morphed into one of utter contempt at the names of the bands, and the expression hasn't quite faded yet.

"Well, who then?" Doctor Matt persists, and the only reason Ben answers him is because clearly the guy needs a lesson in what does and doesn't constitute as Rock.

"Metallica, Guns 'n' Roses, Motorhead," he rattles off, barely even thinking about it. "Black Sabbath, BOC, ACDC. _Rock_. Not pansy-rock. Rock."

Doctor Matt seems a little surprised. "Wow – that's some old stuff you've got listed there."

Ben sends him a barbed look.

"Cause your stuff is so much more recent," he says scathingly, and to his irritation Doctor Matt laughs a little.

"Good call," the Doctor chuckles, a little smile on his face that Ben feels kind of tempted to hit. "I never really got into that stuff though. A bit too loud for my tastes."

"Well you'd hate this place on the weekends then," Ben says shortly, thinking about all the tracks that he downloaded under Dean's music-tutelage that he blasts out of the speakers every Saturday while he's doing his chores.

"Maybe," Doctor Matt concedes. "Or maybe I could introduce you to some of my music. You might find you like it."

The glare Ben sends him is so venomous that Doctor Matt knows he's way overstepped just now.

"I didn't mean now," he hastens to clarify. "At some stage in the future, I mean. When me and your Mom have been together for a while."

And that doesn't do anything to ease Ben's clear anger. In fact, his face darkens even further and he grinds out, "So never, then," and pushes himself up and stalks into the lounge to drop moodily onto the couch.

There's blessed, blessed silence for just a moment before Ben hears Matt hesitantly follow.

"Look – I'm sorry," Doctor Matt says, and Ben does his best to ignore him entirely. "I didn't mean to push you like that. It's got to be hard for you – meeting your Mom's new boyfriend. That you're even talking to me is kind of amazing."

Ben scoffs at that. He's been talking? Well, if that's what the Doctor wants to call the stony silences and clipped answers, that's fine with Ben.

"Ben," Doctor Matt says, beseeching and a tiny little bit frustrated. "I know this is hard, ok? But... I like your Mom. And your Mom likes me. And I really think it would mean a lot to her if you gave me a chance."

Well, damn. The guy's actually guilt tripping him.

Ben's not sure whether to be more pissed at Doctor Matt for trying it or with himself, because it's kind of working.

Not much, mind. Just a teeny little bit.

Because, although Ben knows exactly what (or who, rather) would make his Mom happy, Dean's not here right now. And even though Ben knows that the shaggy-haired, pretty-boy, conservative doctor is not going to make Lisa happy in the long run (Ben knows his Mom's type, and Doctor Matt is _not_ it), he thinks maybe he's got to let her work that out on her own.

Doctor Matt must see a little bit of leniency in Ben's face, because he starts up again, sitting himself on the other sofa.

"So... what do you like to do in your spare time?"

Ben glances at him for half a moment, then grits his teeth in an act of forced civility and looks back at the wall ahead as he answers.

"I like cars," he says shortly, and he sees Doctor Matt deflate a little out of the corner of his eye.

"Cars, huh?" the Doc says, with the air of someone forcing polite interest in a topic they couldn't care less about. "Any particular sort?"

"Classic ones," comes Ben's short response. "Belairs, Mustangs, Impalas." That last one is said with a soft quirk of his lips as he thinks about the contagious affection that Dean has for that car of his that the hunter successfully managed to pass on to Ben.

Doctor Matt chuckles a little to himself. "You've got a liking for the old stuff, don't you?" he says. "Where'd you pick that up?"

Ben throws him a _Don't push it_ glare and the Doc wisely lets it go.

"Well I like art, myself," he says. "Fancy myself as a bit of an artist, actually. I love sketching in my free time. I've been told I'm not too bad at it."

Ben sends him an incredulous look.

Seriously? _Classical music_ and _drawing_? Did his Mom go out with the intention of finding the least Dean-like guy in existence?

It occurs to him that maybe she did.

"Ok, so you're not much of a fan of art," Doctor Matt correctly guesses. "Ah well. I'm sure we've got something in common," and he sounds like he actually believes that.

Ben pulls another expression that he learnt from Dean – this one is the _Believe that if it makes you feel better_ one. He's starting to think that the only thing he's got in common with this guy is their gender (and even then, Doctor Matt is a bit too girly for Ben's liking).

There's silence in the lounge for a long moment which is only awkward for Matt, who's running out of one-sided conversation ideas and is starting to realise that he may have underestimated Ben's hostility towards him.

Apparently this makes him bold, because he asks, "Can I… can I ask _why _you're so opposed to me seeing your Mom?"

"How many reasons do you want?" Ben snaps venomously, thinking that there's a lot of little reasons that he could give, but really just one main one.

Because what Doctor Matt said before is wrong. It's not been just Ben and his Mom for ages – it's been him and his Mom and _Dean_. And _that's_ why this is wrong – that's why this guy and his Mom are never gonna work out. Because Doctor Matt is not Dean.

And, well, that's obvious. Of course he's not Dean. Dean's with Sam, somewhere across the other side of the country, saving people and hunting things. And Ben gets that. He does. The world needs Dean. Ben doesn't even know how many people there are who are only still alive because of Dean. He knows he's one of them. So's his Mom.

So yeah, he's known from the outset that this Matt character wasn't going to be Dean.

But he didn't quite anticipate how totally and utterly un-Dean-ish the guy would be. Seriously. It's probably not even possible to be any _less_ like the hunter.

Ben knows his Mom's type. Leather jackets, a couple of scars, and with a hard and rough personality on the outside but (and Dean would probably kill Ben for even _thinking_ this) a kind of secretly tender and caring streak underneath all the layers.

And Ben's sure that Matt is a great guy, really. Just… a great guy for someone else. Some other family. Because the previously vacant space for an adult male in the Braeden family has already been filled, and it's been filled by someone who far outshines Doctor Matt.

The Doc opens his mouth to respond to Ben's question, but doesn't get a chance to actually say anything as they hear Lisa's approaching footsteps.

"Ok," she says, appearing from around the corner. "I'm ready."

The two males in the room turn to look at her, and very different expressions form on their faces very quickly.

"Lisa, you look gorgeous," Matt says, sounding floored, thrilled and awed all at the same time.

She beams at him, a little self conscious, and runs her hands over the dress to smooth it.

"…That dress, Mom?" Ben asks, his voice a little choked, sounding vaguely betrayed and more than a little hurt.

She looks at him, opposing hints of flint and compassion blended together in her warning gaze.

"Yes, Ben," she says simply, her tone and her expression warning him not to push it.

And normally he wouldn't care in the slightest about what she wore – it's hardly something he tends to notice, really – only this dress kind of means something to him.

It's green and silky and not too dressy, and with her hair all swept up into tumbly curls and her makeup done just right she does look absolutely stunning in it.

Dean had thought so too, and had said so on more than one occasion, mostly in a quiet amazed voice whispered to her when he'd thought Ben wasn't paying attention. Dean had been with them for just over four months, and he and Lisa had officially been an item for four weeks, and it was the dress that Lisa had bought especially for her birthday dinner.

They'd gone out to her favourite restaurant – nothing too fancy or high-flying; just a nicer place than Dean had ever gone to when he'd been out hunting, and somewhere that required the boys to wear actual ironed shirts and that gave Lisa an excuse to get dressed up.

They'd sat in a booth with Ben on one side and his Mom and Dean on the other, and Ben knew that they were subtly holding hands under the table even though he'd pretended to be oblivious. And the three of them had chatted about nothing in particular, and Ben and Dean had ganged up on Lisa about the virtues (or lack thereof) of broccoli, and they had bickered about whether ginger beer or lemon-lime-and-bitters was the better drink, and they had all eaten desert even though they'd had nowhere near enough room left over for it and Dean had stolen Lisa's ice-cream and Ben had stolen Dean's crumbled toffee and Lisa had stolen Ben's strawberries. And then on the car trip home Ben started dozing in the back seat and Dean had felt confident enough in Ben's apparent unawareness to lean across to kiss Lisa soundly while they were waiting at a red light, just because he could, and Ben had closed his eyes and pretended that he hadn't seen it.

It was the first time that the three of them actually felt like a family.

And now his Mom is wearing that very same dress again, on a date with a guy who is most definitely not Dean.

She'd worn it on the first day that the three of them really felt like a family, and now she's wearing it on what feels like the first step of saying goodbye to that family for good.

"Mom..." he says, and he thinks he can be forgiven for the slight waver in his voice.

"Ben," she says, sounding a little exasperated even though it's mostly compassion in her voice. She knows exactly what night he's thinking of. Knows how much it meant to him. "Just... leave it, ok?"

Doctor Matt is looking between the mother and son, wondering what he's missing. He doesn't know about Dean – recent ex-boyfriends is hardly a topic that new couples tend to bring up with each other, especially when the ex-boyfriend in question is only not here because he's too busy saving the world, and especially when neither the woman or the boy he left behind is yet over his departure – so he's probably thinking that Ben's objecting to the choice of dress because it was a present from Ben's dad, or some other off-the-mark assumption.

Very suddenly, Ben can't stand Doctor Matt's presence. He shouldn't be here; in their house with his Mom – him with his damn surfer-dude hair and his stupid sketches and his annoying voice and his absurd music preferences. _Nothing_ about Doctor Matt matches them – Lisa _or_ Ben.

It should be _Dean_ his mother is going on a date with.

Rash Dean, funny Dean, spiky-haired Dean, leather-and-gun-powder Dean – _their _Dean.

Dean who matches both them like he was made exclusively just for their family.

Dean who sings off key on purpose, and Dean who burns pancakes and then eats them anyway, and Dean who gets way more excited at the prospect of getting a puppy than even Ben (that had been just two days before Sam had shown up, and talk of pets has since fallen off the table in the same way that Dean has quietly fallen out of their lives).

Dean who taught Ben how to take a hit as well as give one, Dean who took him out into a huge empty carpark and let him drive the Impala (really slowly, and just for a little while, and both of them kept it _very_ secret from Lisa), and Dean who covered for him when he broke his Mom's favourite mug and then drove half an hour to the nearest mall (and Dean _hates_ malls) just to buy a replacement so that Ben wouldn't get busted.

Dean who called Ben's math teacher a douche because he gave Ben a bad mark, and Dean who got up early for the next test to go through all the questions with him just so that Ben could have the satisfaction of seeing his teacher's surprised face.

Dean who is quite possibly The Most Awesome Guy on the Planet, and Dean who deserves to be every bit as happy as Lisa does.

And if this Doctor Matt guy stays, then that's not going to happen.

Ben knows his anger is showing clearly on his face and in his body language as he shoves himself up off the couch and glares at Doctor Matt.

"I _hate_ art," he snarls. "I hate looking at it and I hate making it, and classical music is just _boring, _and we don't have _anything_ in common."

He storms past the two of them and shakes off his Mom's hand and startled "Ben!" when she tries to catch him, and he's up the stairs and into his room before she can even make those high heels of hers turn around in time to follow him.

He slams his door behind him, then thinks better of it and opens it up again silently, enough so that he can hear the muted voices floating up from downstairs.

"…so sorry about that," Lisa's saying.

"Really - it's no problem," Doctor Matt replies, and Ben can _hear_ the infuriating smile of understanding (even though he doesn't understand in the slightest) on his face. "It's perfectly normal. He's been the man of the house for a long time – of course he's reluctant to accept another male in his life."

And that's _wrong_, because Ben's got no issues whatsoever accepting a male role model into his life. So long as that male role model is Dean.

"He'll get used to me," the Doc goes on. "I mean, you and me – we're dating. He'll warm to me eventually."

"Yeah," Lisa says after a long pause, and it's more of a reluctant sigh. Like she knows exactly how likely it is that Ben will warm up to Matt but can't bring herself to put a damper on the Doctor's optimism.

There's quiet for a moment longer, and then Doctor Matt says, "So, shall we?" and Ben hears the soft jingling sound of keys as Lisa picks up her keys and handbag, and then they're outside and one of them pulls the door gently shut, and Ben lets his head loll back until it thumps into the doorframe.

He hears Doctor Matt's car (some kind of boring, uniform car that wouldn't stand out in a line of shopping trolleys) start up, and then they're gone and Ben's by himself.

He stays where he is for a long while; leaning against his doorframe and trying not to think of his Mom out on a date with a douche bag, but concedes defeat eventually and trudges downstairs to watch some television.

If you'd asked him later, he wouldn't have been able to say what he'd watched while he was waiting. But eventually the room brightens momentarily as a pair of headlights swing past, and Ben darts to the TV to turn it off and then dashes quietly up the stairs and into his room and bunkers down into his bed.

He hears Doctor Matt's car pull to a stop, and Ben pulls the covers off his head so he can hear better.

Maybe the date went poorly and his Mom is just gonna come in and slink off to bed and forget she ever attempted anything with Doctor Matt.

There's mostly silence, and then a car door opening.

Maybe it went so bad that he's not even going to walk her to the door.

A second car door opens.

Right. Or, maybe not then.

Ben strains his ears as he listens for any hint of noise, but there's nothing for a long while and then the front door opens quietly, then shuts again just as noiselessly, and there's the pathetic sound of Doctor Matt's car (probably oxygen fuelled or something equally absurd) as he drives off.

Ben knows his Mom has taken her shoes off just inside the door, because he can't hear the clip-clop of the heels as she comes up the stairs, and he hopes that – cruel as it may sound – the date went really badly. Because he knows his Mom, and he knows what will make her happy, and Doctor Matt _won't,_ and dragging it along is only going to make it worse for everyone.

It would be much better if this whole thing stopped before it started. Otherwise Ben might have to take some drastic action.

He can hear her footsteps approaching his room, so he quickly drops his head back down and pulls the covers over his head in an attempt to appear asleep.

There's a long moment and then Lisa pokes her head around his door quietly and Ben does his best impression of Out-Like-A-Light.

"Matt's a great guy Ben," she says softly, after a long silence, and he doesn't know if she knows he's faking or not, so he keeps right on pretending. At the very least she'll think he's mad at her and ignoring her, and that's pretty much the case anyway.

"I know he's not… he's not what you're used to," she continues, and Ben knows that she means _He's not Dean._ "But he's really, really great. I'm seeing him again next week. I really hope you'll give him a chance."

She leaves then, shutting the door softly behind her, and Ben glares silently into the darkness.

She's seeing Doctor Matt again next week?

Well, that's that then.

First thing in the morning, he's calling Dean.

...

_AN: I'm unsure about the last bit, but it's only getting later the more I tweak it and I wanted to get it posted. I'd love it if you could let me know what you thought (and please – no mention of anything that happens after 6x15, cause I haven't seen any further than there yet, and spoilers would be devastating). _

_Bundi_


End file.
